Episode 1

What Do You Play Games For? is the 1st episode of Shangri-La Frontier anime series.

Summary
Its been a long journey, but Sunraku defeats the dark lord. The princess, Fearia, is happy about it and thanks him. Sunraku notes that he was waiting for this moment for a long time. He then jumps and kicks Fearia, stating that she is menace to the world and go to hell along with the dark lord. The end credits of Faeria Chronicle Online ~The Prayer of the Fairy Princess~ roll. Sunraku is happy that he is finally done with Failia Chronicle and that he got his revenge to Fearia.

Its an age where display-based games are considered retro and fully immersive VR games has become the norm. However the number of great games isn't big and there are a lot of bad games known as "trash games". While most people hate trash games, Sunaru is among the few who seek them out. Rakuro Hizutome, also known as Sunraku, puts Fearia Chronicle to his "never play again" shelve and confirms that its indeed a trash game. He is also known as "Trash-Game Hunter" and now wonder which trash game should he play next.

At school, Rei sees that Sunraku is coming. She prepares mentally to asks him what game is he playing and to state that its a coincidence that she is also playing it. When Sunraku gets close to her, she approaches him to greet him, however another classmate takes Sunraku's attention and starts talking with him.

After school, at Rock Roll game shop, the owner Mana Iwamaki puts a poster for Shangri-La Frontier, while also notes that the summer vacations starts from tomorrow, which should mean increase in her business. Rei then comes in the store and looks around, however Mana tells her that he isn't here. Mana explains that he is playing a special trash game and hasn't been by in a while. Since its Faeria Chronicle, Mana expects that it takes him a bit more time to finish it. Rei had heard about the game from her sister. Mana confirms its a legendary trash game with bad AI ally, absurd enemy attack patterns and full of bugs. It takes a really skilled player to beat the first boss and lots of players end up trashing their headsets in frustration. Additionally, you have to fight the last boss with just shorts and a mask. In that moment, Sunraku comes in, asking Mana if she has some other trash games. Seeing him, Rei quickly hides. Mana is surprised that Sunraku had managed to finish the game already and Sunraku confirms. He then explains its really bad game and the female lead was the worst. Fearia is the cause of every problem during the journey, constantly making things worse and even getting villagers and party members killed. For example, she drives a carriage and runs over a villager, killing him, but then blames the dark lord for it. If you annoy her even a bit, she stops moving and the story can't progress for three hours. However the reason he stuck until the end is because between beating the last boss and the credits start rolling, there is a three minutes where you can beat up Faeria without any reprisal. However since Faeria has been quite tiresome game, he isn't sure he wants another annoying game right after it. Mana then suggest he tries something that isn't a trash game, Shangri-La Frontier, a game with over 30 million players. Thinking about it, Sunraku decides to take the game.

At home, Sunraku reads that the game came out last spring and set the record for simultaneous player log-ins. Sunraku then decides to start playing and start the game, which is developed by Utopia Entertainment Software (UES), a company founded by genius programmer Tsukuyo Tsukuri, who developed the fully immersive VR game system. As he log-ins, he is presented with a menu to create his character. Sunraku decides to chose his job first, but is surprised at how many they are. He settles for a twinblade mercenary as its sounds flexible. For his origin, he choses "Wanderer" since it has luck bonus, and that affects the crit chance and item drop rate. Next, he starts designing his character appearance and is overwhelmed by the many options as he is used to almost nothing from the trash games. He is not into fashion and prefers ignoring armor in order to get the best possible weapons. As there is an option to sell your starting gear and the weapons being expensive, he decides to do that and earns 9000 game currency. Since he is naked, he decides to hide his face and his only option is a bird mask. For name, he choses Sunraku, which he uses in every game and which is made from kanji's from his real name. He skips the story introduction and jumps right into the game.

Sunraku finds himself in a forest. His movements feel just like in real life and he goes to test them. He opens the in game map, wondering where he is as usually in such games, the players start in a tutorial town for beginners. However, he doesn't realize that those with "Wanderer" origin start at a random point in the beginners' area. Sunraku sees that he is in The Rampant Forest, which is next to Firstia town. He then decides to head towards the town, while checking things around. Next he checks his stats, but is then attacked by a goblin. He equips his Mercenary Twinblades and easily defeats it with a single hit. He ends up increasing his level and the goblin drops Goblin Hand Axe. He hears something from the bushes and a Vorpal Bunny comes out attacking him. Sunraku manages to dodge its attack, but is surprised at how powerful it was. The Vorpal Bunny then attacks him again. Sunraku blocks the attack and lands a critical hit. The Vorpal Bunny then attacks once more, however as it keeps aiming for his neck, Sunraku is prepared and blocks and defeats it. He ends up gaining two levels from the bunny. He looks around if the bunny dropped its knife as it looked strong. However he ended up achieving a condition and learns Flash Counter, a new skill that gives bonus to counters from parry. Realizing he gains skills from his fighting style, he get excited at how many different styles he can try. At the same time, he also realizes that he haven't encountered any bugs so far, which is something unheard for a trash game. As he wants the bunny's kitchen knife, he goes to look for more Vorpal Bunnies.

Sunraku ends up level up several more times and learns Spin Slash. He realizes that Vorpal Bunny is a rare enemy as it doesn't have a high spawn rate. After he defeats fifty Vorpal Bunnies, he finally obtains two Vorpal Choppers, which have the special effect of giving bonus to critical damage. He had obtained a few more abilities, but Screw Pierce seems the most useful, a quick strike with a compact weapon. Being level 12 now, he doesn't feel he will gain much more experience from the monsters here. He opens the map and realizes that he strayed pretty far from Firstia and is close to Secondale. To reach it however, he needs to cross a bridge, which is protected by an area boss monster, Ravenous Snake. The recommended level for the boss is level 10 with a party of 3 people. Guessing what type of attacks a snake can have, Sunraku then heads to fight it.

At the entrance to the Rampant Forest at Firstia, a large knight waits.

Characters

 * Sunraku/Rakuro Hizutome
 * Fearia
 * Psyger-0/Rei Saiga
 * Mana Iwamaki